LightGramsFebruary 2, 2023Volume 27, Number 5 Just the name “Colossal Biosciences” sounds audacious. When you read of their plans to bring back the dodo bird (extinct for over 300 years) and the wooly mammoth (extinct for centuries) the name of the company seems to fit. Can such a feat be accomplished? To date they have…
Posts by Tim Hall
LightGramsJanuary 26, 2023Volume 27, Number 4 Had you been strolling through Clearwater, Florida last week you might have seen a strange sight. About 30 people were walking shoulder-to-shoulder down a creek in water above their waists, stirring the water ahead of them with their hands. A strange sight, perhaps, but it was a successful effort…
LightGramsJanuary 19, 2023Volume 27, Number 3 Cooper Wright of Cumberland Center, Maine is only 13 years old. But when it comes to putting the world back together, he’s your guy. The “world” of which we speak is the Lego World Map, a set consisting of 11,695 pieces. Cooper was determined to beat the Guinness World…
LightGramsJanuary 12, 2023Volume 27, Number 2 Few things are as whimsical as finding a message in a bottle. How many bottles containing messages have been cast into the ocean is unknown, but occasionally we hear of someone finding one. A famous movie starring Paul Newman and Kevin Costner was produced in 1999 on this idea.…
LightGramsJanuary 5, 2023Volume 27, Number 1 A December 30, 2022 article published by the Associate Press noted that several significant literary and musical works would officially enter the public domain on January 1, 2023. Among the works was the last Sherlock Holmes mystery, works by Agatha Christie, Willa Cather, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway. Entering…
LightGramsDecember 15, 2022Volume 26, Number 38 “When my ship comes in” is a phrase many of us have heard or even used. It’s basically a vision of wealth at some future date, “when my ship comes in”. One website explains that people could once buy shares of ships’ cargoes; for their investment, they would be…
LightGramsDecember 1, 2022Volume 26, Number 36 Merriam-Webster, known for their publication of dictionaries of the English language, announced earlier this week their “Word of the Year for 2022”. The word “gaslighting” surprised even the editors, who said that there was no single story in the news that caused interest in the word to peak. The…
LightGramsNovember 10, 2022Volume 26, Number 34 At a garage sale you purchase an old purse that caught your attention. As you examine it later you discover a baseball card tucked away inside. Further investigation reveals that this card, which is in near-mint condition, could be worth a great deal. So what do you do with…
LightGramsOctober 27, 2022Volume 26, Number 33 With the Associated Press story of Rorie Woods being arrested is a photo of her wearing an unusual hat, one that covered her entire head and face. It’s the garb typically worn by beekeepers who want to protect themselves while they tend to their hives. Woods put this on…
LightGramsOctober 13, 2022Volume 26, Number 32 I recently overheard a man talking about preparing chicken breasts that were the best he had ever had. The key, he said, was a particular salad dressing which he used as a marinade. After sitting in that marinade for a time, the chicken was baked and served. I recently…